--- name: "Hugh Hurd" canonical: "https://film.one/person/hugh-hurd" fi1m_id: "hugh-hurd" imdb_id: "nm0403325" tmdb_id: 146707 wikidata_id: "Q61987449" roles: ["Actor"] born: "11 February 1925" died: "15 July 1995" reviewed_on_fi1m: 1 average_as: "actor" average_over: 1 updated: "2026-09-25T08:59:29.453214+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Hugh Hurd ## Identity Hugh Hurd - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/hugh-hurd - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** hugh-hurd - **IMDb ID:** nm0403325 - **TMDB ID:** 146707 - **Wikidata ID:** Q61987449 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Hurd, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q61987449, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0403325/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/146707 Actor. Born 11 February 1925 in New York City, New York, USA. Died 15 July 1995. ## Details - **Work:** Actor - **Born:** 11 February 1925, New York City, New York, USA - **Died:** 15 July 1995 - **Also known as:** Hugh L. Hurd - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Hurd, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q61987449, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0403325/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/146707 ## Streaming the US now - **HBO Max:** [*Shadows*](https://film.one/film/shadows.md) (74) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Hugh Hurd > Hugh Hurd is worth seeking out for *Shadows*, where his restraint makes a struggling singer funny and affecting. He lets feelings remain difficult to explain without turning that difficulty into a display of acting. Hugh Hurd does not hurry to make an awkward feeling clear. As Hugh, the older brother and struggling nightclub singer in John Cassavetes’s *Shadows* (1960), he allows uncertainty to remain visible rather than signalling exactly what we should make of it. The humour benefits from that restraint, too: an uneasy person need not become a solemn one. It is affecting work in a good, uneven film, and a persuasive reason to begin with Hurd here. Alongside Ben Carruthers as Ben and Lelia Goldoni as Lelia, Hurd makes the lack of polish feel like a fair exchange for more believable people. We were touched by his willingness to seem awkward, because Hugh’s feelings were recognisable before they became easy to explain. His steadiness as the older brother helps hold the family scenes together. The film still wanders, and there are stretches when interest in the actors cannot quite make up for a story that has stalled. His subsequent screen career largely moved into supporting parts, rather than sustaining the prominence of *Shadows*. *The Catch* (1961) offered another substantial early role, as a Black soldier. He returned to Cassavetes for *A Woman Under the Influence* (1974), playing Willie Johnson, a singing member of Peter Falk’s construction crew. There is room there for his steady ensemble work, though far less space than he has as Hugh. Later came Ben Johnson in *The First Deadly Sin* (1980), another supporting role. Hurd described *Shadows* as a cooperative undertaking in which he helped write the script. That is worth remembering when his acting looks casual: he had helped shape the material rather than simply finding a way to deliver it. We would be wary of crediting all the film’s believable, awkward exchanges to Cassavetes alone. Start with *Shadows*, on an evening when a few people trying to understand one another will be enough. ## Biography Hugh Hurd (also credited as Hugh L. Hurd) was an American actor and civil rights activist. He was born on 11 February 1925 in New York City and died there on 15 July 1995. Hurd appeared in numerous stage productions, including Broadway revivals of *Four Saints in Three Acts* (1952) and *Bubbling Brown Sugar* (1976–1977). He gained recognition for his leading role as Hugh in John Cassavetes' independent film *Shadows* (1959). Other film roles include Willie Johnson in *A Woman Under the Influence* (1974), Ben Johnson in *The First Deadly Sin* (1980) and Mushmouth in *Who's the Man?* (1993). In 1962, with Godfrey Cambridge, he co-founded the Committee for the Employment of Negro Performers, which led to congressional hearings on racial discrimination in entertainment. He also helped organise one of the first New York benefits for Martin Luther King Jr. in the late 1950s. *Sources: nytimes.com, imdb.com, wikimili.com.* ## On Fi1m (1) - *Shadows* (1960), Fi1m 74, as Hugh — [page](https://film.one/film/shadows.md) ## Complete filmography (11) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *Who's the Man?* (1993), as Mushmouth - *Jumpin' at the Boneyard* (1991), as Man at Coffee Shop - *Liebestraum* (1991), as Orderly #2 - *A Billion for Boris* (1984), as Detective - *The First Deadly Sin* (1980), as Ben Johnson - *A Woman Under the Influence* (1974), as Willie Johnson - *Blade* (1973), as Attornay - *For Love of Ivy* (1968), as Jerry - *Mafioso* (1962), Actor - *The Catch* (1961), as Black Soldier - *Shadows* (1960), as Hugh — Fi1m 74, [page](https://film.one/film/shadows.md) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/hugh-hurd